Scottish Oral History Centre

The Scottish Oral History Centre was set up in 1995 within the Department of History at the University of Strathclyde to support the use of oral history within the academic community and in the cognate areas such as archives and museums.

About the Scottish Oral History Centre

The Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) was established at the University of Strathclyde in 1995. Since then, it has been involved in a wide range of teaching, research and outreach activities designed primarily to encourage the use of ‘best practice’ oral history methodology in Scotland. Professor McIvor has been Director of the Centre since 2005 (and was joint Director with Professor Callum Brown prior to that) and we currently have a complement of eight additional staff: Dr Angela Bartie, Prof Phil Cooke, Dr Erin Jessee, Dr David Walker, Dr Susan Morrison, Dr Linsey Robb and Dr Angela Turner. There are several current Masters and PhD students who incorporate oral history interviewing into their research methodologies in History at Strathclyde. As a group we have a substantial publication and research record and supervise a large number of undergraduate and postgraduate students using oral history techniques.

A Strong Scottish and International Profile

The SOHC has developed a strong profile in Scotland and has growing international links. SOHC staff have research networks across Europe, North America and Africa. We are currently involved in a transatlantic collaborative relationship with the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), University of Concordia, Montreal, Canada, where a number of our staff hold Research Affiliate status. The Director of COHDS, Professor Steven High, took up the first SOHC visiting Professorship in 2012. The SOHC and the COHDS are jointly organising a major international conference on deindustrialisation to be held in Montreal 1-5 May 2014.

Our Aims and Objectives

To be an international centre for oral history study, research, teaching and training.

To promote collaborative research in oral history across disciplinary and geographical boundaries.

To develop knowledge transfer/outreach programmes, encouraging networking in the area of oral history with other scholars and organisations, including local government and community oral history groups.

To develop an expertise in the use of new technologies in oral history

To facilitate capacity-building and the intellectual development of the next generation of scholars/researchers in oral history.

To act as a corporate base for attracting external funding to support the above aims.